Forever
by Riddicknodefeat
Summary: Beth and Daryl don't get separated and continue on the road together and become very close. Through the fear and the pain can either of them survive? And what can they discover about each other along the way. (I'm mad at TWD right now, doing it how I wanted it to happen.) Reviews are loved :) Rated M for language !st chapter isn't the best, give it till I have the second up.
1. Chapter 1

**Takes place adter season 4, episode 12, Daryl and Beth start getting closer, the walkers never raid the funeral home, and they survive together. Might mess up some dialogue and scene's, and I changed this first scene to work with what I have in mind. Everything that they talk about in the episode gets said, but I can't copy it all down right. Any ideas you want to happen let me know.**

The house was on fire and Daryl felt a surge of triumph as he watched it burn. It was as if suddenly ass the pain from his early childhood melts away from him and he'd never felt so free.

Not that he would tell Beth that, didn't need her getting to big of an ego over him, just in case.

He felt Beth nudge his arm and he turned to see her holding her middle finger up at the shack, looking at him expectantly. Switching his bag to his other hand, he raised his hand to mirror her positon. They stood proud as they watched the burn for a few more moments before the walkers slowly started to approach the fire from the left side.

Not wanting to ruin the night with a walker fight, Daryl lightly grabbed Beth's arm and pulled her around to go. Beth didn't hesitate as they started walking into the black night. "Beth?" Daryl said quietly and they walked.

She turned to him, that sweet smile still in place on her face. "Yeah, Daryl?" her voice came out like a soft whisper to his ears.

"Thanks, for, y'know, listenin' and understandin." He muttered back, keeping his eyes forward. She smiled at him again and grabbed him hand as they walked. It was an odd feeling but he let her keep going with it, not seeing a reason why he shouldn't. They kept walking for a while, until Beth started stumbling over her feet and tripping every few steps. "Damn, girl, get your feet working." He muttered, catching her again as she once again tripped, nearly falling face first into the ground.

"Sorry, can't seem to connect with them." She giggled.

"Good lord," Daryl groaned, the giggles of a drunken girl, how many times had he heard those? She wasn't going to be able to walk properly pretty soon if the booze was hitting that last hurtle threw her system. He needed to find them a place to camp, and quick, before she started throwing up on him, and that wasn't something he wanted to deal with that. "Beth, c'mon, keep coming." He muttered, practically pulling her with him. They needed to get away from the fire so they wouldn't be disturbed by any walkers going to check out the flames.

"I'm trying; my feet don't like me no more." She mumbled, grabbing hold of his arm as tight as she could as she once again stumbled along the forest. He smirked, it couldn't be helped, she was just being an idiot and it was funny.

After walking for more than an hour Daryl finally found a spot that he thought could work for a camp. He lowered a stumbling Beth to the ground and placed their bag down beside her. Quickly setting up a quick camp, hanging the lone of hub caps and setting up their tent in a corner; he moved back to Beth and saw her laying on the ground, almost asleep in front of him. He had to smile at her.

Daryl nudged her awake and lead her to the tent for some much needed rest while he stayed up for a while, watching the area for walkers.

 **Ok prologue is up, next will be better, just needed a starting point. Next should be up by Monday night**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so here's the next chapter. Hope you like this better because the last one was not my finest work.**

Beth awoke the next morning with a harsh groan as she closed her eyes to repel the sunlight. Her head felt as if it was being shot at by one of Daryl's bolts and then repeated multiple times. She wanted to stay inside her sleep for a while longer before she was forced to face the new day.

"I know you're up, girl, get your ass up an' moving." Daryl's harsh voice muttered beside her as he dropped something close to her head.

Beth groaned again, tempted just to stay there and see how long she could get away with it. Probably not long; knowing Daryl he'd want to keep moving and get going soon. Sighing, Beth pushed herself up off the ground; her eyes still closed, and rubbed her hands over her birds nest like hair. Finally her eyes opened, she regretted it instantly. The sun was shining bright; the grass was sparkling with moisture causing a sparkle off them. Her eyes burned and her head cracked. She wanted to die.

"Mmm, too bright." She whined, standing up from her spot on the ground.

"You wanted a drink; you have to deal with the after effects." Daryl informed her in his lazy southern drawl. That drawl did things to her. She'd never tell him that, though, didn't need to inflate his ego. Moving away from the camp, she found a good place to squat for the bathroom, and quickly returned. She watched him as he moved around the camp, building up the fire to cook whatever he had caught while hunting that morning before she woke. "What's on the menu for today?" She asked, sitting down and pulling her bag over to her.

"Two squirrels an' nother snake." He grinned. They'd had problems finding squirrel lately and honestly, she missed it. Looking up with him, she matched his smile. He was such a good hunter. She was grateful to have been able to escaped with him over other people. As much as she would have loved to be with her sister, her father, baby Judith, and everyone else Daryl was the only one she felt extremely safe with.

After hearing Daryl open up to her the night before Beth had wanted to do something for him; burning down the place that reminded him so much of his sad childhood seemed like a good idea. He had looked happiest than she'd seen him in a while. She felt happy she could give him that feeling. When he had gone off at her during never have I ever she had been worried, sad, and even a little scared. He'd wanted to shoot a walker for target practice. But when he had held her next to him, she couldn't help how nice he felt against her, or how tight he held her to his body.

Thinking back to the game, she couldn't believe some of the things he told her, or said to her. He'd never eaten frozen yogurt? OR gotten a gift from Santa Claus? She wondered, if they were still alive, she could get do something about that in the winter. "So, you've never eaten Fro-yo?" She spoke, holding her head in her hands. God she was never drinking again.

He looked over at her and just shrugged, holding the snake over the fire. "I bet I can find you some." She joked, looking up at him, and then grabbing her head in pain again. "Dear lord, will this pain ever end?" Beth heard him chuckle slightly. "I'm never drinking again, ever. Especially not moonshine. Should have kept to the peach schnapps stuff before you had the chance to smash it," She mumbled, glaring at Daryl playfully.

"Ya, like I'da let you drink that pussy ass girly drink." He shot back, turning the meal over the fire. Beth grinned at him, liking the fact he was now speaking with her, instead of just ignoring her out right. She enjoyed it, more than she should perhaps, but it made her feel more safe to speak with him, joke with him, enjoy the hell they were in. "You hungry?" He grunted, looking back to her.

She nodded her head. "A bit, yeah." She scooted closer to his place by the fire, watching as he slowly turned the meet over a few more times before taking it off the fire, satisfied it was done.

"You ain't feeling sick or nothing, are ya?" His head turned slightly towards her, pulling the stick with him to give her the meat.

"Worried about me, Dixon?"

"Naw, girl, just don't wanna waste all this meat if 're just gunna hurl it up." She shoved him slightly, playfully. They ate in silence, listening to the quiet forest around them, fully alert for any passing walkers or people.

Throughout the meal, Beth kept thinking back to him holding her close to him, the bow held out in front of them, aimed at the walker they'd been killing. It wasn't the most enjoyable way for her to kill one of them, but he had made a point. She didn't know how to fire a crossbow- currently their best weapon of protection. She did rely on him for protection, and a lot of other things also. She wanted to be able to do more, help more. Yes, she could start a fire, take down a walker or two but Daryl could do more.

Soon, their meal was done. Beth stood and snuffed out the fire with some dirt before walking over to where his bow sat, well within his reach, and picked it up. It was heavier than she'd expected, although she'd never really used one before she could see why it would be Daryl's weapon of choice. It was quiet, easier to aim than a gun, and you could always make more bolts, you couldn't make more bullets.

"Your offer to teach me to shoot still open for conversation?" Looking down she saw him watching her, or more so, watching his bow.

"Why?" He took another bite of his meal although there was not much left of it.

"I think it would be helpful for me to learn. And I wanna learn how to track."

He dropped the bones from his food down and stood up, whipping his hands on his pants as he did. "Why?" He asked again.

"I just told you." She raised her eyebrows at him, not knowing what else she could say.

"No, you just told me why I would want to teach you, not why you want to." He moved closer to her, reaching for the bow, but she pulled it out of his reach, taking a step back from him in the process.

"Because I want to help," She looked up at him. "Does it matter why? Can't you just teach me?" She looked into his face, looking for anything other than the blank look he was giving her, she felt like she was being studied for his own purposes. "Just teach me, please?"

Daryl moved suddenly, grabbing the bow out of her hand and shoving it over his back, while still backing her up against the nearest tree. "If you want me to teach ya, fine; but we do it my way. And my way means you don't touch my bow without me sayin' so. Clear?" She nodded up at him "And you never aim the damn thing at me, cause if you shoot me I will kick your ass. You hear me?"

"Yeah, I understand." Beth was smiling slightly. She'd heard about all the times Daryl had threatened to shoot people with an arrow up the ass. She did not want to be on the end of one of those arrows.

"Good, come on." Daryl walked away from her, grabbing the bottle of water they had from the ground and tossed it at her. "Let's clean this shit up. Then we can start."


	3. Chapter 3

**Ok, here we go again, this chapter is just a little bit ahead of the other one. I really hope you like it, and I'm always open for suggestions.**

Daryl didn't know why he agreed to help Beth track and shoot, sometimes when he was teaching her he just wanted to shoot her himself she was pissing him off so much. But then sometimes he thought she was the best thing he could ever have the grace to see. She wasn't the best shot yet, or even the best tracker, but she was learning faster than he'd expected.

He remembered when Maggie had decided to try and teach her how to shoot a gun and failed miserably. Soon after though, Hershel had come to him asking to teach her, if he could. Help her to protect herself, show her how to shoot, hit, how to survive with some basic skills. This was way back before they'd found the prison. He wanted to protest, but he knew that she would need it sometime. She didn't do great but she'd learnt more with him than she did her sister. So when she had asked him to learn how to shoot his bow, track an animal, track people, he thought back to that time.

Now, here they were, he was having her track a dead trail, what looked like a walker from a few days ago, didn't need her going out and tracking live ones that were close just yet. He'd like to live a little bit longer.

But right now, she was pissing him off. She wasn't paying enough attention, letting the bow drop too often, and was snapping twigs every step. He was beyond frustrated, and she just turned the wrong way.

"Wrong turn, girl." He snapped. She groaned and turned again. "Come' on Beth, I thought you wanted to learn." She glared at him and bent down to look at the 'tracks'. He had chosen a dead set for many reasons, but the main reason was to see if Beth could even tell that they were a dead set and not at all useful. She'd failed the moment she started following them. Now, he was just waiting for her to notice the trick he'd done. Waiting for a while now.

"Wait, these tracks are really dry." She touched them, watched them for a second. "Daryl!" She got it.

"Yeah?" He was grinning, finally.

"These are dead tracks. How long have we been following these? Two hours? Urg!" She turned on him, the crossbow still up in her arms. Daryl just grunted, but then she slightly raised the bow, the height was high enough to get a shot into his torso.

Play time was over.

He moved fast, too fast for her to catch, he reached out, yanked the bow from her hands and dropped it down to the ground; he grabbed her arm and twisted her around so that her back was pressed to his front tightly. He could hear her breath intake the moment he grabbed her, but he didn't have time to think that over. He was pissed. Again.

"When I agreed to teach you, what did I tell you?" He growled into her ear, "What did I say, Beth?" He slightly shook her form in his rage.

"D-don't aim the bow at you or you'd kick my ass," She breathed out, almost in a husky whisper. Daryl grunted in response, looking down at her. He tried not to see how her shirt was dragged down lower than it should have been, or that her ass was in too good of a spot. Daryl groaned to himself. Not the time to be thinking of this.

 _Plus you're too old for her Darylina._ It sounded like Merle was speaking to him again, like when he'd been thrown from the horse. Shaking him away, Daryl turned back to the matter at hand. Beth. "Don't you dare try that again, girl." He turned her around to face him, holding her shoulder in a firm grasp, bringing one hand up and pointing his finger in her face. "We ain't got the time or the ammo to deal with walkers coming around cause I'm bleeding." He leaned in very close. "Next time you try something like that, I will beat your ass, got it?" She nodded quickly, her eyes wide.

He turned from her, reaching down to grab his bow, before he looked back at her. "Come on." He started to walk back the wat they came, towards the camp. After a moment, Beth followed him.

Daryl was thinking a thousand things. Trying very hard not to give into his instinct and yell at her for hours. "Daryl?" He heard behind him, he kept walking. "Daryl, wait, please." Those words made him stop, though he didn't turn around to face her just yet. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again." She touched his shoulder lightly, trying to get some sort of response from him.

He grunted, and then started walking again.

Beth rushed forward to stand beside him as they walked swiftly and quietly back to the temporary camp. Beth couldn't help but notice the beauty of the area they were in. The trees towered tall over them, creating a shaded cover, yet the sun was still making its way through the trees. Light was radiating off of patches of wet leaves and scattered sections of grass. The way they were moving made the forest seem almost silent, the only sound were the birds chirping happily up in the trees.

Beth found herself thinking of those birds. They didn't have to worry about walkers, people, and the threat of death every second of each day. When this happened to them all, when the walkers started, the birds didn't have to be worried over where their next meal was coming from, or where it would be safest to sleep. It was very beautiful.

"You okay?" Daryl asked, looking down at her dazed face.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about the birds." She smiled, turning to look at him.

"The birds?" Beth noticed the face he made, that one that just screamed out 'are you insane'. His eyebrow tilted up, his mouth was half open and he just looked plain confused

"Yeah, the birds; they're so at peace, so free. They can fly anywhere they want, they don't have anything to worry about, like getting food, surviving, living day to day. They just are, and it's really beautiful. Very poetic even," Daryl laughed, shaking his head. "What? What's so funny?" She smacked his arm lightly. "Jeez, Dixon, you're like a damn high school girl."

Daryl just laughed harder, holding his stomach in ease. "It's just that only you can turn something like a earth shattering event into some sort of poetic nonsense." She blushed and looked down at the ground, trying to think of a clever come back. "Never thought of it though." She looked back up.

"What?" She asked, curious.

"Damn birds got shit easy, lucky assholes." He grinned over at her and kept walking. Beth followed easily, a smile on her face.

Late that night, the fire crackling and small game being cooked over it, Beth was laying down looking up over the clearing to watch the stars above. "Do you ever miss it?"

Daryl looked over at her from his spot across the fire, turning the meat to avoid burning. "Miss what?" He grunted back.

Beth sighed softly and turned her head to look at him. "The way it used to be. Internet, wifi, sports, shopping, beds." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Just having normal day to day life," He scratched his head, thinking back, it seemed, before looking her in the eye.

"Sometimes," He said honestly, "I miss Merle, seeing him, talking to him. Not a day goes by I don't think of him. I miss not having to worry about anyone but him. Sure as hell miss beds," Beth laughed a little, turning her eyes back to the sky, "Never really used the internet, not much of a sports fan. This is normal, for me. Hunting, surviving; just living as well as I can." Beth smiled and nodded her head. "This is normal, at least for me. I always just survived, and moved from day to day. At least now I got people with me, people I care about." She looked back over at him, pushing herself up on her elbows and smiled.

"You got me now, Dixon, and I'm hard to get rid of."

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Foods ready, et's eat."


End file.
